When to neuter??

Hi everyone,

Winston is now 7 months old, and I was wondering when was best to get him neutered?? Firstly - when would be best for him in terms of his growth and development, and secondly when would be best in terms of his recovery?

I have a week off work next week, and would be able to spend most of the week at home with him, apart from a few half days when I would need to go out for various reasons. He is crate trained and fine with 1/2 days on his own (4 hours max), but I don't know if that would be a problem if he was crated in terms of him having a collar on to stop him chewing??

The second option would be at the end of July, when I would be starting my maternity leave - he would be 10 months then. I would still have to go out sometimes, but obviously would not have to go back to work . Baby is due end of August, so I'm hoping that would give him plenty of time to recover (5 weeks).

What would you all advise? I am leaning towards July........ I am also hoping to get his small hernia repaired at the same time, I don't know if that would make any difference to recovery time - how long does it usually take?

Recovery is about 10 days for the wound to heal but really only a day or two for them to be back to normal in other ways.

If you wait til 10 months you may have marking and humping behaviour that will never be helped by neutering, if this is one of your goals.

he is at what vets consider the best age for neutering right now. You can wait of course as well -- but if you are waiting til only 10 months then I'd just do it now. There is an argument that some make for waiting til the dog is around 1 and has finished growing. But I've seen no difference at all between my dogs neutered at older ages and at 6-7 months. Waiting til 10 months isn't really any benefit one way or another even going by the argument to wait til they finish growing.

More info here:

http://board.cavaliertalk.com/showthread.php?p=316327#post316327

There's more of a health argument for neutering females before a first season (eg around 6 months) than there is for doing males at that time but you may lose the potential behaviour advantages of neutering if you wait til 10 months, just be aware.

It really comes down to what works best for you and your dog and what you believe the issues are for you.

That said many people who own males that are not yet showing mature behaviours and who thought they'd wait til age 1 find they cannot stand the behaviours that will start in the next couple of months and and hurry to neuter. So if it suits you to do so now (and a week off is more than enough -- so is just neutering on a Friday and having a weekend around the dog, generally) then I'd probably get him neutered now.

A hernia repair will add to the recovery time however. be sure the dog actually needs this -- most eventually don't.

On a related note, if you can subscribe before Friday May 8th, 2009 at exactly 5 am EST (ie New York time), my next newsletter is about cryptorchid male dogs, ie dogs who are missing 1 or 2 testicles.

drphilzeltzman - doggie surgeon
Free subscription at www.drphilzeltzman.com

my next newsletter is about cryptorchid male dogs

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That's good to know; I've had a couple come through rescue with this condition. One had become cancerous as the owner 'never got around' to neutering though they were told to do so because camncer was a risk. The poor dog's retained testicle was up in the abdomen and swollen and my vets said itmust have been very painful. We biopsied to be sure it was cancerous.He came to rescue initially with some behaviour 'problems' that were almost certainly caused by the poor dog living with chronic pain from this cancerous, swollen testicle. He's very happy and calm now living with a woman with a disability who feels a special affinity for him as he'd been through a lot himself.

Hi,

Something else we discussed in Friday's newsletter (subscription is free on my web site) is that umbilical hernias are HEREDITARY, but few people realize it.

drphilzeltzman - doggie surgeon
www.drphilzeltzman.com

Murphy was neutered before 10 months old. He had a retained testicle and I was advised that it could become twisted.

He made a very speedy recovery and there wasn't even a whimper after his op once he was home. He let them know at the vet he was ready to come home!

His training has been going excellently, he's very focused and considering how straight forward it was, I wish I had had my other two done earlier than I did.

Thanks Dr Z for your input, as I was anxious about his op prior to surgery - I'm very aware of all the arguments for/against neutering early, but the results for Murphy have been very positive.

He stopped humping Dan, my older dog - Dan much as he loves M, was growing a bit tired of this behaviour and M stopped cocking his leg and marking the house as well. He squats to tinkle mostly now.